The present invention relates to an apparatus for storing and discharging rod-shaped workpieces of different lengths and types or cartridges containing same and for the automatic supply, under the control of a computer or the like of, in particular, a cutting-off machine or a station for processing these workpieces, with at least one shelf system being provided which is equipped with superposed shelf compartments or honeycombs and a hoist for filling the shelves and for removing the workpieces or cartridges from the shelves. The hoist is movable along the shelf or shelves and transversely thereto. When a workpiece is stored or removed, its length is determined and the resulting value is stored in the computer. A length measuring device is provided for detecting the distance of the front end faces of the workpieces from an abutment for the rear end faces of the workpieces.
In such apparatus the different lengths of the rod-shaped workpieces require inventory administration for each individual workpiece and this requires the compilation of data for each workpiece. Moreover, it is necessary to administer each individual workpiece in order to determine whether certain ordered lengths can be sawed or processed from the respective workpiece material. In this connection it is of eminent importance to be informed of the lengths of the workpieces to be stored or discharged so that orders to supply a cutting-off machine or a processing station, generally referred to herein as a workpiece processing system, can be filled as best as possible in that the best suitable workpiece lengths are held available.
It is already known to determine the lengths of rod-shaped workpieces by determining their weight in that this weight is then converted into a length dimension under consideration of the workpiece material and its cross section. However, this manner of proceeding is extremely inaccurate since, particularly in raw materials, fluctuations in the cross sections occur which add up over the length of the workpiece and may lead to corresponding error values in the length determination.
An apparatus of the above-mentioned type is disclosed in German Patent 3,318,420. Here the abutment for the rear faces of the workpieces has an associated slide that is movable relative to the abutment to be placed against the front end faces of the workpieces and is connected with a pulse generator which records the length of the path traveled by the slide toward the front end face of the workpiece and then feeds the thus determined length value for the workpiece to the computer. However, this apparatus, which operates in the manner of a slide rule, is slow since each individual workpiece must be detected by way of a complicated travel path. Moreover, in cooperation with the hoist, only a single workpiece can be "processed" with respect to its length determination. The result is that economic storage or discharge of layers of several workpieces, perhaps also of different types, is not possible. Thus the prior art apparatus is time consuming. It is also very cumbersome and complicated with respect to the apparatus itself.